


i am more and i am better

by Whyyyyy



Series: cadnis canon fics [27]
Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:14:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29620434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whyyyyy/pseuds/Whyyyyy
Summary: regina confesses her love for janis and cady is NOT happy about it
Relationships: Cady Heron/Janis Sarkisian, Regina George/Janis Sarkisian
Series: cadnis canon fics [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149737
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	i am more and i am better

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to @Cadnis4ever for the prompt!!!

"Sarkisian."

Janis turned around, frowning as she searched for the owner of the voice. Shrugging, she turned back to Damian. "I told you, I can't help you run lines today, I have to study for my-"

"Sarkisian!"

This time when Janis turned, she spotted a flash of blonde hair peeking out from behind the doorway of an empty classroom. Sighing, she glanced back at Damian, who raised an eyebrow. "Lemme deal with this," she told him. "I'll talk to you at lunch."

A hand stuck around the doorway, grabbing a corner of Janis's coat and tugging her inside. Scowling, Janis pried the manicured fingers off of her clothing. "Regina, what the fuck?" She glared at the blonde girl standing in front of her, but when Regina didn't smirk back like usual, Janis softened. "Gina?"

"Don't call me that," Regina snapped, and whatever momentary worry Janis had felt disappeared. Rolling her eyes, she turned to leave, but Regina grabbed her sleeve again. Janis raised an eyebrow, folding her arms. 

"Why are you being weird?"

"I... I need to talk to you," Regina said, eyes darting around the room like a trapped animal. Which made absolutely no sense, since she was the one trapping Janis. 

Janis gestured impatiently for her to continue. "Hurry up, we have to be in class in like two minutes."

"Right. Fuck, I shouldn't have tried to do this now." Regina fiddled nervously with a lock of her blonde hair. "I just-"

"Regina."

"Okay, okay. So um, you know that I used to... like you, back in eighth grade or whatever. And I know I did a ton of terrible shit to you, which I still feel bad about by the way, and I'm super grateful to you for forgiving me and I know we're like, finally in a good place or whatever and I don't want to mess that up but-"

"Is there a point to this?" Janis asked, the question coming out a little harsher than she'd intended. Still, she didn't take it back. "Or are you just rambling?"

"I was just about to get to the point," Regina said indignantly.

"Could've fooled me."

"Fine." She took a deep breath. "I think I might... like you. Again. Or still. I don't know."

Janis frowned. "You think? That seems like a very vague thing to possibly ruin our friendship for."

Regina winced. "Let me rephrase. Janis Sarkisian, I am in love with you."

Janis blinked. Then she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and blew out a breath. "Well, fuck."

* * *

"She did _what?"_

Damian and Cady gaped at Janis from across the cafeteria table. 

Janis nodded. "I _know._ It was so random, too. I don't even... God, this is so surreal."

"She just, like... told you? Just like that?" Cady asked, and odd look passing over her face.

"Yeah. I mean, there was some nervous rambling, but she said she realized a few days ago and knew that she had to tell me."

Damian snorted. "Had to tell you? Really? Sounds a bit overdramatic."

"Well, it's Regina," Janis replied, shrugging. "What do you expect? I think she just meant that she wanted to be honest with me or whatever. Which I do appreciate. I think."

Cady bit her lip. "Are you guys together now?"

"Nah." Janis took a halfhearted bite of her veggie burger, then grimaced and swallowed. "I told her I need time to think. I mean, I spent like six months after what happened in eighth grade wishing she'd change her mind and just, like, announce that she loved me or something like that. And then I find out that she does, all this time later? It's messing with my head." She shook her head. "Anyway, I think she'd avoiding me now."

Cady nodded slowly, that odd look still on her face. "Can't blame her for that."

Janis smiled sadly. "Yeah."

* * *

Cady called Regina later that afternoon. Regina picked up on the second ring, hoping to God this was just a friendly phone call and not about the Janis thing.

Unfortunately, God seemed to have decided that Regina's sins outweighed her prayers.

"What the _fuck_ , Regina?" Cady hissed as soon as Regina picked up.

Wincing, Regina flopped down onto her bed. "Is there any chance that this isn't about Janis?"

"No." Cady's voice was icy. "What the fuck?" she said again. "Why are you always doing this to me?"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Regina squeezed her eyes shut. "I know you love her-"

"Because I told you."

"Yes, because you told me. But I promise, it's not about you. I wasn't trying to steal her from you or anything. I just needed to get it off my chest. I never thought for one second that she'd feel the same."

"She doesn't."

"I _know_ that. That's why it was safe for me to tell her."

Cady was silent for a long moment, long enough for Regina to wonder, briefly, if the call had dropped. But then she heard papers shuffle on the other end of the line. Cady was stress-organizing. 

"Cady," she said softly, and the paper shuffling intensified. "It's not like it was with Aaron, I swear. I'm not trying to ruin your life or anything. And I'm not stupid enough to believe that I'm going to get a happy ending, especially not with Janis. I don't deserve that, and we both know that. I'm just trying to be honest with her, that's all. I feel like I owe her that much."

"You owe her way more than that," Cady said coldly.

"I know!" Despite her best efforts to hold it in, a tear rolled down Regina's cheek. At least Cady couldn't see her - thank God for small miracles. "I know, okay? I know I was a fucking bitch and I'll never make it up to her and I'm just trying to- I don't even fucking know, I just didn't want to lie. That's it, okay? I know she doesn't love me."

Cady finally stopped shuffling papers, and when she spoke again, her voice was soft. "What if she does, though?"

"You literally just told me that she doesn't."

"I know, but..." Cady took a deep breath. "It's just, at lunch today, when she told me about what happened, she said it was messing with her head. And even though I don't think she'd ever allow herself to love you again, no matter how nice you've been to her lately, there's just a tiny part of me that can't help but think that it wouldn't mess with her head if she didn't have at least some sort of feelings for you."

They both fell silent as they contemplated this terrifying possibility.

"Oh, whatever," Cady sighed after a long minute. "It's not like I really thought she loved me back anyway. Who cares if she loves you? At least she'll be happy."

Regina thought Cady was wrong - she should know, since every time Janis smiled at Cady with that sweet, genuine smile that she so rarely used it felt like a new part of Regina was dying - but she kept this piece of information to herself. It wasn't her place to meddle with their relationship. She'd already done enough by confessing her feelings.

And maybe, somewhere deep, deep inside, the selfish part of her wanted Cady to be right, and if that swayed her decision to keep quiet at all, that wasn't anyone's business, now, was it?

* * *

Janis didn't know what was up with Cady lately. In the two weeks since Regina had confessed her feelings, Janis and Regina had been talking a lot, trying to sort out the mess of confusing feelings, new and old, between them. Which was not an easy task, considering they had three years' worth of brokenness to sort through. But as the days went by, Cady had been getting increasingly annoyed with these developments.

"You hated her, Janis," she was saying now, as Janis gathered up her books, getting ready to leave their study session. She was meeting Regina for dinner. "You hated her so much that you-"

"I remember what happened last year, Caddy," Janis said as she shoved her books into her backpack, annoyed. "I also remember that you basically did the same thing to me that she did and I forgave you."

Cady winced. "That was different."

"Not really."

"Okay, well I still don't think that you should be going on a date with her, for God's sakes."

"It's not a date," Janis insisted for the twelfth time that day. "We're meeting for dinner. As friends. To discuss the fact that she's in love with- it's not a date!" she stomped her foot, instantly feeling like a two-year-old. But then again, Cady was acting like one too.

"You're leading her on."

"Shut up."

"She's gonna think you like her back."

"Shut up!"

"Why are you even bothering with her, anyway? Six months ago you would have-"

"Oh my God, Cady, shut the fuck up!" Janis finally snapped, whirling around to face the redhead. Cady clamped her mouth shut, trying her best not to look hurt. Janis instantly regretted the words, but she was too pissed off to stop. "Sorry. But can you just please back off? It's not my fault Regina told me she loves me, and it's also not my fault that I'm a little confused about it. So please stop being so mad at both of us? I don't get why you even care."

Cady sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry for being a bitch. And I'm not mad at you or Regina, not really. I'm mad at myself."

Janis hesitated, then sat carefully on the edge of the bed. "Why's that?"

"Because... Regina, she figured out how she felt about you _two days_ before she told you. Two days. That's all it took for her to work up the nerve. Meanwhile, I've..." she swallowed. "I've been in love with you since the first time I saw you and it took me now to tell you."

Janis froze. Cady glanced nervously at her, but pressed on. "Anyway, I guess you could say I'm being so bitchy because I'm in love with you or something. And you're right. It's not your fault." she smiled sadly. "You should go, you're gonna be late for your not-date."

Janis shook her head slowly, pulling out her phone and typing out a text. "There. Non-date has been cancelled. Because we need to talk about this."

"No, Janis, it's fine, really, I didn't mean-"

"First off," Janis interrupted, "I am not in love with Regina George. That was never on the table, and I'm sorry I wasn't more clear about it. I've only been hanging out with her so much recently because I want to stay friends with her and I'm trying to figure out how to do that in a way that won't break her. We already have way too much hurt between us."

Cady started to speak again, but Janis held up a finger. "Second. I love you more than anything in the world and I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I just-"

This time Cady cut her off by pressing her lips to hers. Janis smiled, half to herself, and kissed Cady back hard enough to topple them both over onto the bed. Cady giggled and pulled Janis close so that they were lying side by side, pressed up against each other. Janis ran her thumb over the exposed skin between the waistband of Cady's jeans and the hem of her shirt, which had ridden up significantly. Cady shivered and kissed Janis again. "I love you," she murmured against Janis's mouth.

"I love you too," Janis whispered back, pulling back just the tiniest bit so that she could see Cady's face. "So. Fucking. Much." She punctuated each word with a kiss. 

Cady smiled, trailing a finger down Janis's cheek. "What are you gonna tell Regina?"

"The truth," Janis said with a shrug. "Seems only logical at this point."

Cady nodded. "Wise choice. I think... well, nevermind."

"No, tell me," Janis whined, and Cady laughed.

"I was just gonna say that you might want to give her some space for a while. I know you want to be friends, but I don't think that's gonna be possible unless you give her some time to get over you first. Do whatever you want, though, it's not like I'm an expert or anything, so."

"No, that makes sense." Janis smiled. "Good idea."

Cady grinned. "I have them, on occasion."

"Mm, yes, once in a while," Janis agreed, kissing her again.

And maybe it was wrong, to be so happy while miles away another girl stared down at a text, knowing full well why her dinner date had been cancelled, but in that moment, Janis had never felt more right.

**Author's Note:**

> woof this turned out kinda angsty and sad but like it's fine
> 
> apologies to regina
> 
> but like yay cadnis


End file.
